A place to find home

Caritas Village – A Place to Find Home

The ONLY way to end homelessness is to secure long-term housing for vulnerable families and individuals. Sounds simple, but for Sonoma County, with a homeless rate three times the U.S. average, high costs of construction, and hundreds of new people experiencing homelessness due to the North Bay Firestorm, community-wide solutions have been scarce.

Until now. Catholic Charities is embarking on an ambitious project called Caritas Village, aimed at making a significant dent in our countywide homeless crisis. Located at Catholic Charities downtown property on A Street, Caritas Village will enable Catholic Charities to increase the number of people moving from homelessness into permanent housing each year.

Caritas Village

Caritas Village will consist of two unique yet complementary facilities, Caritas Center and Caritas Homes. Caritas Center is Catholic Charities’ new housing focused service center and emergency family shelter. Over 3,000 people will start their journey to housing at Caritas Center each year, a journey that will be accelerated by participation in Catholic Charities evidence-based housing focused service model. Caritas Homes aims to create 137 apartments of affordable permanent housing, built and managed by Burbank Housing. It will be home to people who represent a cross-section of our community including working singles, and families whose income can’t keep up with the current rental market, vulnerable seniors, and veterans.

Enhanced Neighborhood Security

Caritas Village was designed with enhanced neighborhood safety and security in mind. The Day Drop-In Center has been moved indoors and away from the neighborhood. Housing components are located next to existing housing on Morgan Street and 7th Street. Catholic Charities and Burbank Housing will have resident management onsite 24/7 and neighborhood security patrols.

Projected Community Benefits*

Dramatic Reduction of Homelessness – Caritas Center will double the number of people that move into permanent housing and enable up to a 20% reduction in chronic homelessness, and up to a 23% reduction in veteran homelessness.

Providing housing and onsite medical care will reduce the load and cost to existing emergency rooms and clinics by up to 45% and reduce ambulance transports by up to 56%.

Providing housing and support services will reduce law enforcement interactions by up to 76%, and reduce need for crisis intervention services by up to 98%.

* Based on 2017 results of Catholic Charities Palms Inn and other local projects.

Catholic Charities of Santa Rosa is the largest, most successful agency in Northern California at moving people into housing and out of poverty. Building Caritas Village will remove barriers and clear a path for Catholic Charities to lead our community into the ultimate vision of making sure no one in Sonoma County experiences homelessness for more than 30 days. With your help, and the launch of Caritas Village, we can make an enormous impact in the lives of homeless children, veterans, seniors, and other unhoused neighbors who call Sonoma County home.